Longhorns RB Commit Jaydon Blue Opts Out of Senior Season

Jaydon Blue, one of the Texas Longhorns top commits for the 2022 class, has elected to opt-out of his senior season of high school football.

Matt Galatzan | May 20, 2021

Texas Longhorns running back commit Jaydon Blue has elected to opt-out of his senior season with Klein Cain (Houston, TX), he announced on Thursday.

Blue announced the commitment via his Twitter account.

After countless hours of evaluation, I have made the decision to forego my senior season of high school football," Blue said in a statement. "This has been a very difficult decision for my family and I. Football is a brutal sport, and the wear and tear associated with the running back position is undeniable. I plan to take this time to focus on my academics while enhancing my off-the-field training regimen. This is a strategic and conscious effort to ensure that I am prepared to perform at an elite level at the collegiate rankings during the 2022 season. I want to thank each of my coaches and teammates at Klein Cain high school. The relationships established have helped mold me into the young man i am today. You have my continued support this season and in the future. This is an incremental step in hopes of one day fulfilling my NFL dreams."

Blue originally committed to the Longhorns on Feb. 2 of this year, just over two weeks after the hiring of Steve Sarkisian

"I could be anywhere in the country the next 3-4 years playing college football and pursuing a degree in engineering," Blue said. "Today I would like to announce that I will be committing to the University of Texas."

Blue marks the third big-time in-state recruit for the Longhorns in the 2022 class and the second on the offensive side of the ball. Wide receiver Armani Winfield previously committed on Jan. 12, becoming the first player to commit to Steve Sarkisian's program, while defensive back Jaylon Guilbeau committed to the Horns in September of 2020.

Widely seen as one of the top running back recruits in the 2022 class, Blue the Longhorns over offers from national powerhouses such as Alabama, Georgia, Oklahoma, LSU, Florida, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Penn State, USC, Oregon, and Texas A&M, among others.

In his junior season in 2020, Blue ran the football 227 times for 2,155 yards and 30 touchdowns, while averaging 9.5 yards per carry and 195.9 yards in 11 appearances.

In the 2019 season, Blue also had a tremendous sophomore season, carrying the ball 205 times for 1,612 yards and 16 touchdowns in 10 games, averaging 7.6 yards per carry.

Blue's main recruiter was Texas running back's coach Stan Drayton, who was one of the lone holdovers from the Tom Herman regime and has played an integral part in the Longhorns' recruiting efforts since the hiring of Sarkisian.

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Published May 20, 2021

MATT GALATZAN

Matt Galatzan is the Managing Editor and Publisher of Texas Longhorns On SI and Texas A&M Aggies On SI and a long-time member of the Football Writer’s Association of America. He graduated from the University of Mississippi, where he studied integrated marketing communications, with minors in journalism and business administration. Galatzan started in the sports journalism industry in 2014 covering the Dallas Mavericks and SMU Mustangs with 247Sports. He then moved to Sports Illustrated's Fan Nation network in 2020, eventually being taking over as the Managing Editor and Publisher of the Longhorns and Aggies sites a year later. You can find Galatzan on all major social media channels, including Twitter on @MattGalatzan.